India: Inter-state trade of agri-items on e-NAM platform gains momentum

• Inter-state trade of farm products in mandies (wholesale markets) through the eNAM platform is gathering pace with the latest transaction taking place at Gujarat’s Palanpur mandi, which sold green gram to Sumerpur mandi of Rajasthan.
• In Apr 16, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the pilot of electronic National Agriculture Market (eNAM) as part of the central government’s objective to double farmers’ income by 2022.
• eNAM is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. The platform seeks to help farmers in getting better market access, find more buyers/traders for their produce and earn higher income.
• Small Farmers’ Agri-business Consortium (SFAC) is the lead agency for implementing eNAM under the aegis of the Union agriculture ministry.
• Trade in 585 mandis is currently taking place on the electronic network, which helps discover price in real time in a transparent manner. The government aims to integrate 200 mandis in 2019 and another 215 in 2020 with the e-NAM platform. There are about 2,700 APMC mandis and 4,000 sub-market yards in India.
• Earlier, trade used to happen within the APMC (Agriculture Produce Market Committee) mandi or between two APMC mandies situated in the same state.
• Though the volumes of inter-state trade on e-NAM platform are low currently, the programme will prove to be a giant leap in reforming the agriculture market in India, an agri official said.
• The ministry has integrated 585 wholesale regulated markets (APMC) markets in 16 states and 2 Union territories (UTs), who have carried out requisite reforms in their state APMC.
• Farmers can access the information on e-NAM easily through their mobile phone from anywhere. This online trading platform aims at reducing transaction costs, bridging information asymmetry and helps in expanding the market access for farmers.
• eNAM is a virtual marketplace with a physical market (mandi) at the backend, networking the existing APMC/mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities for pan-India electronic trading. Mandis handle huge volumes of farm produce. eNAM provides quick quality assaying solutions to promote online trading.

External Link: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/agriculture/inter-state-trade-of-agri-items-on-e-nam-platform-gains-momentum/articleshow/67708244.cms